Page 33 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
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Three hours,one cobb salad, veggie burger, and five calls with the other technical team members later, and Gideon’s brain was running faster than a coked-up hamster in a greased wheel.
“Any luck?” Gideon asked Ryker as he came back into the motel room.
“I didn’t find anything in Jada’s rental car; it was clean as a whistle.”
Ryker sat down on his bed. “What have you got? You’re looking a little too calm for once.” Ryker came closer, then sighed. “Shit, it’s an act.”
Gideon took the last bite of his burger and nodded, then swallowed. “Fine, I’m not calm, but I’m better than I was.”
“Why?”
“Because I know what we’re doing next. Risk Guard has two subsidiaries, one of them does real estate investments.”
“That sounds odd. Why would a company like Risk Guard have anything to do with real estate?” Ryker asked.
“So, they could have property wherever they wanted. This allows their execs to live the high life all over the world without having to have silly little things like mortgages. Tillamook might not be the end-all-be-all, but Oceanside Oregon is pretty damned nice and it’s forty minutes away. And guess what? This real estate company has a multi-million dollar estate with ocean access. That makes it very convenient for the yacht.”
“Yacht?” Ryker queried.
“Yep, it’s good sized, and what’s more, they keep it moored off the house’s dock.”
“Define good-sized.” Ryker was starting to grin, and Gideon didn’t blame him.
Gideon wadded up the bag that had contained his food and tossed it in the trash. “Forty-two feet. Mount up, cowboy. Let’s go get her.”
“Are you sure that’s where Jada is?” Ryker asked.
“I’ve got a good feeling about this, and I want to get there yesterday.”
“You got it pulled up on Google Earth?”
Gideon cocked his head, and Ryker held up his hands in supplication. “Sorry I asked.”
Gideon handed him his tablet. “Look at this.”
He watched as Ryker looked at the multi-million-dollar mansion that overlooked the ocean. There was a big-assed boat house at the dock, and the four-car garage was another building that was separate from the main house. There was a large decorative security fence surrounding the property, except on the side facing the ocean, so they’d need to approach from the beach.
Gideon looked down at his watch, it was now one in the morning. He yanked his military backpack out of the larger suitcase and started slamming ammo, knives, and his gun into the pack. Then he checked on all the other things to make sure he was covered. Anything he could spare, he threw Ryker’s way. Ryker had his civilian backpack that he’d used for his flight from D.C., and he was now loading that up with his ammo, gun, knife, and whatever else seemed useful. They both changed and layered up with their swim trunks beneath their cargo pants.
Gideon hefted his backpack up onto his shoulder, grabbed his room key, unplugged his tablet, and turned to Ryker. “Ready?”
“Yep.”
They left the room and headed for the SUV.
* * *
“He says it’s hot,so it needs to go.” The woman sounded mad.
“What a waste,” Jada heard a man’s voice say. She hadn’t heard him speak before.
“Quit thinking and just do your job,” the woman ordered. Jada recognized her voice, she was the one who had given her the tarp. Naomi, her name was Naomi.
Wait a minute, it wasn’t as dark anymore, but it wasn’t exactly light either. Jada turned her head just a little bit so she could see past the tarp to find out what was going on. It was colder than earlier.
Jada saw that she was outside. She could see the moon reflected off the ocean, and now that she saw that she realized she could hear the sound of the crashing surf.
